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Which prescription diet best for chronic constipation/lazy bowels?
My 1.5 year-old male tabby recently had a bad bout of constipation. Toby
did not poo for over two days and a vet check-up found a substantially distended colon. The vet immediately put him on Propulsid (bowel stimulant) and Duphalac (lactulose syrup) but he still refused to poo for another two days. The vet finally administered an enema under anaesthesia, which thankfully helped empty Toby's bowels almost immediately. While x-rays taken before the enema showed a distended colon, it wasn't conclusive enough for a megacolon diagnosis. The vet has now put Toby on a mixture of Hill's Prescription Diet w/d dried and r/d canned, and reckons that Toby will also have to be on Propulsid and Duphalac for the rest of his life. [Toby was also recently diagnosed with struvite crystals in his urine, which necessitated the change of diet to Hill's w/d and r/d.] While I'm okay with Toby having to be fed a fairly expensive prescription diet for the rest of his life, I'm not sure I am prepared to continue paying my vet the exorbitant prices charged for the two drugs. I did some research and discovered that Duphalac can be had for as little as AUD$12 per 500ml bottle at pharmacies in Australia without needing a prescription - in contrast, my vet charges me AUD$25 for a mere 25ml bottle (which lasts less than a week). I am, of course, a little peeved at the obvious profiteering going on here. But that's OK, since it is something I can get around by getting the Duphalac myself. Propulsid is a more complicated matter - it is probably a prescription drug, which means I can't buy it over-the-counter at pharmacies, and my vet charges me AUD$65 for a wee little 25ml bottle. I also found out that propulsid has been withdrawn from the pharmaceutical market for humans because of allegations that it caused the deaths of several young children. So, quite apart from cost, there is the question of whether long term use of Propulsid could harm my little boy. So I am at a dilemma - should I risk stopping the use of the drugs and rely on the higher fibre combination w/d and r/d diets to keep Toby's bowels moving? What if I leave out the Propulsid and just rely on the Duphalac to keep Toby's stool soft/moist? Is a higher fibre diet (the Hill's w/d and r/d) necessarily better for chronic constipation or is a low-residue diet the way to go? Is canned pumpkin safe for a cat with a potential struvite crystals problem? Thanks a million to anyone who can shed some light on the above. :-) Devlin Perth, Australia |
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By the way, Toby was fed a roughly 50%/50% diet consisting of IAMS Lamb &
Rice (dried) and Whiskas Advance (canned) with the occasional canned tuna as a treat (about once a week) before his crystals and constipation problems reared their ugly heads. He'll of course get no more tuna (or any other pseudo-people foods disguised as cat foods) from now on due to the struvite crystals problem. Devlin Perth, Australia |
#3
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By the way, Toby was fed a roughly 50%/50% diet consisting of IAMS Lamb &
Rice (dried) and Whiskas Advance (canned) with the occasional canned tuna as a treat (about once a week) before his crystals and constipation problems reared their ugly heads. He'll of course get no more tuna (or any other pseudo-people foods disguised as cat foods) from now on due to the struvite crystals problem. Devlin Perth, Australia |
#4
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The vet has now put Toby on a mixture of Hill's Prescription Diet w/d dried and r/d canned, and reckons that Toby will also have to be on Propulsid and Duphalac for the rest of his life. [Toby was also recently diagnosed with struvite crystals in his urine, which necessitated the change of diet to Hill's w/d and r/d.] While I'm okay with Toby having to be fed a fairly expensive prescription diet for the rest of his life, I'm not sure I am prepared to continue paying my vet the exorbitant prices charged for the two drugs. First of all, I have a real big problem with a vet that proclaims a cat has to be on a special food/drugs for "the rest of its life" because of *one* incident of constipation. I also question putting the cat on the foods you described for crystals in the urine. The best diet for both constipation and urinary tract issues (and in general) is one that is all canned, high quality (Iams is not) and fed on a schedule. I have two clients that have cats that had constipation issues that were never resolved using the prescription high fiber diets, and one of the cats was still constipated despite getting daily doses of mineral oil and a prescription stool softener and was in constant misery. Completely eliminating dry food and switching the cats to a high quality canned food fed on a 12 hour schedule resolved the constipation in both cases and eliminated the need for stool softeners as well. Canned is also beneficial for urinary tract issues as it greatly increases a cats water intake, which in turn helps to keep the urine more dilute and the bladder flushed. In general a canned diet isgoiong to be better for your cat and there is more and more information coming out that shows that dry foods are not great for cats (a good website that you can check out on this subject is http://www.catnutrition.org ) I would suggest trying this approach before deciding the cat has to have prescription drugs and diet for the rest of its life. Megan "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray |
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Gaubster wrote:
Feline w/d and r/d from Hill's are formulated with a pH range of 6.2-6.4 which will help manage crystals. So, you are wrong on that count, Megan. No I'm not. I never said it was wrong to feed that. I said I "questioned it" which is entirely different. Apparently it didn't occur to you that managing crystals and dissolving them are two different things. First of all, I have a real big problem with a vet that proclaims a cat has to be on a special food/drugs for "the rest of its life" because of *one* incident of constipation. Have you seen the test results yourself? How can you diagnose over the internet? I didn't make diagnosis. Again you are too ignorant to comprehend basic language. I questioned the proclamation that the cat would have this condition for life based solely on *one* incident, which is completely valid. Just because you blindly follow whatever a vet or Hills tells you without doing any research or using common sense doesn't mean others should. snip the rest of Gaubsters typical attempt to start an argument over food Megan "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray |
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Gaubster wrote:
From: Apparently it didn't occur to you that managing crystals and dissolving them are two different things. Of course it did. But you're too busy putting words into people's mouths to stop and think, now aren't you? I did no such thing and I challenge you to prove it. Let's see what the OP found out: ------------ snip Looks like they resolved that problem with the help of the Hill's diets. Once again, Megan your advice turns out to be off the mark. As is typical you use deception to try to win your point (which you didn't.) You conveniently failed to mention that what the OP wrote about what was done for his cat and why was posted two days after my post. I questioned why something was done and he gave me an answer, but here you are trying to make it look as though he posted that information before I responded. This is typical of your regular lies and misrepresentations. It doesn't change the fact that my suggestions for how to treat constipation and urinary tract issues *are* effective and on the mark. If a poster takes another approach it doesn't change the validity of what I say. ...and what research did you do on THIS particular case?? None, because you didn't examine the animal personally, nor did you have access to the cat's records. Pull your head out, Megan. I've done plenty of research on how to treat constipation, which is what this cat had, and have found an approach that works remarkably well without having to resort to the poor quality prescription foods that so many vets are brainwashed into recommending. This isn't some incredibly complicated medical issue and it hasn't been going on for very long. If the requirement is that we can't give suggestions or advice on health issues without personally examining the cat or being privy to its medical records this group would cease to exist. You only put this forth because you have this pathetic compulsion to be argumentative in spite of the obvious. The OP described the results of the cats examination and it's pretty basic stuff, although compehending basic information is and has for a long time been above and beyond your abilities. Again, you're putting words into people's mouths. Again, I did no such thing. Prove it or STFU. Megan "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray |
#9
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Gaubster wrote:
From: Apparently it didn't occur to you that managing crystals and dissolving them are two different things. Of course it did. But you're too busy putting words into people's mouths to stop and think, now aren't you? I did no such thing and I challenge you to prove it. Let's see what the OP found out: ------------ snip Looks like they resolved that problem with the help of the Hill's diets. Once again, Megan your advice turns out to be off the mark. As is typical you use deception to try to win your point (which you didn't.) You conveniently failed to mention that what the OP wrote about what was done for his cat and why was posted two days after my post. I questioned why something was done and he gave me an answer, but here you are trying to make it look as though he posted that information before I responded. This is typical of your regular lies and misrepresentations. It doesn't change the fact that my suggestions for how to treat constipation and urinary tract issues *are* effective and on the mark. If a poster takes another approach it doesn't change the validity of what I say. ...and what research did you do on THIS particular case?? None, because you didn't examine the animal personally, nor did you have access to the cat's records. Pull your head out, Megan. I've done plenty of research on how to treat constipation, which is what this cat had, and have found an approach that works remarkably well without having to resort to the poor quality prescription foods that so many vets are brainwashed into recommending. This isn't some incredibly complicated medical issue and it hasn't been going on for very long. If the requirement is that we can't give suggestions or advice on health issues without personally examining the cat or being privy to its medical records this group would cease to exist. You only put this forth because you have this pathetic compulsion to be argumentative in spite of the obvious. The OP described the results of the cats examination and it's pretty basic stuff, although compehending basic information is and has for a long time been above and beyond your abilities. Again, you're putting words into people's mouths. Again, I did no such thing. Prove it or STFU. Megan "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray |
#10
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